Cowards Modern Conditions

Te Ao Hou, August 1957, Page 13

Cowards Modern Conditions At the beginning of the century, when Bob Tutaki began shearing, shed and working conditions were very much worse than today. Both the sleeping quarters and the food left much to be desired, one of the main bones of contention being that whereas station owners all provided bread and meat, they were not compelled to provide anything else. Particularly butter was a food the lack of which was often severely felt; a hard-working shearer needs a lot of it. Bob Tutaki tells a story of one shed where conditions were particularly poor: nothing to sleep on except bad straw, no room for eating, and no privies at all. Evidently the owner of this shed had some difficulties in finding shearers and Bob and his gang were only diverted to it at the last moment to help the farmer out. Mr Tutaki tells how, after seeing the conditions, he worked out his own plan of campaign. On the first day, the farmer checking on the work of the gang, found that Bob himself had left the heads of some of the sheep unshorn. Very irate, the farmer led them back, what was the meaning of this? ‘Never mind about those sheep. You can shear their heads yourself if you like’, said Bob. Mr Robert Tutaki. (Russell Orr Photo.) ‘So you want me to turn out a complete job, do you?’ The farmer indicated that that was indeed what he expected. ‘But what about you? Do you turn out a complete job? Look at that fallen down shed where we have to live. When you came round this morning you saw where we were sitting. We were eating outside, on the grass. You know why that was: it was because there is no room inside our quarters to have a meal. And what did you give us? Nothing except tea, bread and meat. Yet you had your own breakfast inside, with jam and butter, and in comfort. And did you have a look at the straw on which we had to sleep? It was damp. If you turn out a complete job, I shall do the same.’ The effect of this, said Bob, was electric. For the rest of that stay, the shearers all had their meals in the kitchen and a few hours after their conversation a truck arrived outside the shearers' quarters carrying new mattresses and other supplies. The struggle for better conditions became Bob's preoccupation. Joining the Agricultural and Pastoral Union in 1906, he became one of the pioneers of unionism of pastoral workers in his district. The first shearers' award in New Zealand dates from 1902 and is based on an agreement between the sheep-owners and shearers of Canterbury. Otago followed suit soon after.